The People That We Love
by Xican
Summary: Willow hates this old high school feeling.


TITLE - The People That We Love  
  
AUTHOR - Xican  
  
EMAIL - Ocd551@aol.com  
  
DATE - November 25, 2001  
  
DISCLAIMER - All characters are property of Joss Whedon, Sandollar, Kuzui, the WB, and UPN. Lyrics to 'The People That We Love' written by Gavin Rossdale and performed by Bush, ( 2001 Mad Dog Winston Music, from the album Golden State. The story belongs to me, biznatch.  
  
DISTIBUTION - We're doing reverse kidnapping here. First send me the note and then take it.  
  
PAIRING - Xander/Tara/Willow Songfic  
  
RATING - PG - 13  
  
SPOILERS - Post 'Once More, For Feeling'  
  
SUMMARY - Willow hates this old high school feeling.  
  
DEDICATION - Hideo Kojima. He didn't inspire the story; I just want to dedicate something to him.  
  
***  
  
I love the both of them. I really do. And I hate that it's all like sophomore year again.  
  
[Speed kills coming down the mountain  
  
Speed kills coming down the street  
  
Speed kills with presence of mind and  
  
Speed kills if you know what I mean]  
  
I was getting better with my magic, stronger. I was using magic to do everything, from changing clothes to changing the channel. Then I started to feel that I could use it to do real good for the people that I love.  
  
That's what ruined it for me with Tara. I thought that by making her forget our fight things would be better. I mean, I guess you can see it as violating her, but only if you're ignorant. It was the right thing to do. So she had moved out of the house and ended up staying at Xander and Anya's.  
  
Oh yeah, Xander and Anya.  
  
When Xander had told all of us that he and Anya were engaged, I went through several different emotions. Over the past year I had learned to trust Anya when it came to Xander, especially after the whole Olaf incident, but marriage was an entirely different thing. I'm pretty sure that she's ruined more than a couple in her time. So I thought that I could help.  
  
I had done a spell. It went wrong. I blame it on Xander's bad magic mojo, of course.  
  
[Got to feel - woke up inside again  
  
Got to feel less broke more fixed  
  
Got to feel when I got outside myself  
  
Got to feel when I touched your lips]  
  
In the end, Anya had recovered her Power Center and Xander and I had slept with each other. Several times.  
  
So Anya had left him and I had slept with him. Seems like a win/win situation to me. But no, he blamed me for ruining his life. So he started to avoid me. He only came over to visit with Dawn and Buffy when he knew that I was staying late at the school. He never called. It was about this time when I realized that we weren't best friends anymore. Hell, we weren't even friends, period. It was also this time that I realized that I once again had romantic feelings for him.  
  
[The things we do to the people that we love  
  
The way we break if there's something we can't take  
  
Destroy the world that we took so long to make  
  
We expect her gone for some time  
  
I wish her safe from harm  
  
To find yourself in a foreign land  
  
Another refugee outsider refugee]  
  
Well, not as much romantic as sexual.  
  
So I became stalker girl. At school, I'd follow Tara around whenever I would see her. I'd go into some of her classes, using a glamour spell to mask my appearance. I would even try to talk her. We'd usually get in arguments, but I'd make her forget with my trusty magic so I could maybe talk to her the next day.  
  
Or sometimes, by conjuring up a familiar to take my place in school, I'd go to wherever Xander was working that particular day and just watch him. Take my lunch to across the street and watch. Sometimes I would magically swipe his shirt whenever he took it off when it got hot so he'd have to go shirtless for a while.  
  
This went on for a couple of weeks until I saw it. I was going to Xander's site because I couldn't find Tara at school. And there they were. In a Baskin Robbin's, sharing a cookie dough and mint and chip cone. Xander and Tara. Holding hands. Walking down the street.  
  
They stopped in front of The Warehouse store window. And then they kissed.  
  
[How's it feel she's coming up roses  
  
How's it feel she's coming up sweet  
  
How's it feel when it's all in spite of you  
  
How's it feel when she's out of your reach]  
  
It wasn't a full tongue, down on the ground type of kiss, though it obviously wasn't their first. Then it hit me. The two of them had lived together for over a month. Alone. Xander was in a period of need, and Tara was a very comforting person.  
  
The whole scenario began to play inside my mind.  
  
***  
  
It's about two weeks after the spell had run its course. Xander comes through the door after the day of work. It's 5:39 p.m. and Tara is in his... their kitchen making pasta that she makes so well. Xander goes to his room, drops his work clothes on the floor and changes into the Parappa the Rapper T-shirt Dawn had given him years before. He walks into the living room and lies down on the couch. Dinner's ready. The both of them eat in silence until Xander breaks down. He cries, no, bawls and Tara pulls him away onto the couch. The tears are now staining her shoulder as she tries to get him to talk. She's very persuasive when she wants to be. So he talks. He talks about everything. About Anya. About Buffy. About me. He's not crying anymore. Tara is moving closer to him now. She kisses the top of his head. Then his forehead. His nose. He looks her in the eyes. They both move in and kiss each other on the lips. They don't stop.  
  
***  
  
Can you believe that I got all this from watching kiss from across the street?  
  
They didn't even notice that I was there and continued walking.  
  
That's when it all came flooding back.  
  
[The things we do to the people that we love  
  
The way we break if there's something in the way  
  
Destroy the world that we took so long to make  
  
We expect her gone for some time  
  
I wish her safe from harm  
  
To find yourself in a foreign land  
  
Another refugee outsider refugee  
  
What happened to you]  
  
It's like I'm in high school again. People would just continue moving without noticing me. It was for this exact reason that I became so interested in magic in the first place. And it's happening again. Worse, I'm being ignored by the people that I love.  
  
[ E N D ] 


End file.
